Page 40 - History of War - Issue 01-14

London S.W.1.
23rd April 1 943

PERSO NAL A ND MOST SECRET

M y Dear Alex,
I am ta king advantage of sending you a per sonal letter b y hand of one of Mountbatten’s
officer s, to give you the in side hi stor y of our recent exchange s of cable s about
Mediterranean operation s and their attendant cover plan s.
You ma y have felt our deci sion s were some what arbitrar y, but I can a s sure you that
the C.O.S. Committee gave the mo st careful con sideration both to your recommendation and

We have had recent information that the Boche have been reinforcing and strengthening
to Jumbo’s.
their defence s in Greece and Crete, and C.I. G.S. felt that our force s for the a s sault were
in sufficient. It wa s agreed b y the Chief s of Staff that the 5th Divi sion should be reinforced
b y one Brigade Group for the a s sault on the beach south of CAPE ARAXOS, and that a similar
reinforcement should be made for 56th Divi sion at KALAMATA. We are earmarking the nece s sar y

force s and shipping.
Jumbo Wil son had propo sed to select SICILY a s the cover target for ‘HUS KY’, but we had
alread y cho sen it a s cover for operation ‘BRIMSTO NE’. The C.O.S. Committee went into the whole
que stion exhau stivel y again and came to the conclu sion that in vie w of the preparation s in
Algeria, the amphibiou s training which will be ta king place on the Tuni sian coa st and the
heav y bombardment which will be put do wn to neutrali se the Sicilian airfield s, we should
stic k to our planfor ma king it the cover for ‘BRIMSTO NE’. Indeed, we stand a ver y good chance
of ma king him thin k we will go for Sicil y – it i s an obviou s objective and one about which he
mu st be nervou s. On the other hand, the y felt there wa sn’t much hope of per suading the Boche
that the exten sive preparation s in the Ea stern Mediterranean were al so directed at Sicil y.
For thi s rea son the y have told Wil son hi s cover plan should be something nearer the spot –
ie the Dodecane se. Since our relation s with Turke y are no w so obviou sl y clo ser, the Italian s
mu st be prett y apprehen sive about the se i sland s.
I imagine you will agree with the se argument s. I kno w you will have your hand s more
than full at the moment and you haven’t much chance of di scu s sing future operation s with
Ei senho wer. But if, b y an y chance, you do want to support Wil son’s propo sal, I hope you will
let u s kno w soon, becau se we can’t dela y much longer. I am ver y sorr y we weren’t able to meet
your wi she s about the ne w commander of the Guard s Brigade. Your o wn nominee wa s do wn
with a bad attac k of the flu and not li kel y to be reall y fit for another fe w week s. No doubt,
ho wever, you kno w For ster per sonall y; he ha s done extremel y well in command of a brigade

at home, and i s, I thin k, the be st fello w available.
You mu st be about a s fed up a s we are with the whole que stion of war medal s and ‘Purple
Heart s’. We all agree with you that we don’t want to offend our American friend s, but there i s

a good deal more to it than that.
If our troop s who happen to be serving in one particular theatre are to get extra
decoration s merel y becau se the American s happen to be serving there too, we will be faced
with a good deal of di scontent among tho se troop s fighting el se where perhap s ju st a s
bitterl y – perhap s more so. M y o wn feeling i s that we should than k the American s for their
kind offer, but sa y firml y it would cau se too man y anomalie s and we are sorr y we can’t accept.
But it i s on the agenda for the next Militar y Member s Meeting, and I hope you will have a

deci sion ver y soon.

Be st of Luc k
Your s ever,
Archie N ye

General the Hon Sir Harold R.L. G. Alexander, G.C.B.,
C.S.I, D.S.O., M.C.
Headquarter s, 18th Arm y Group

40 40 40 40 40 HISTORY WAR
Y
Y
R
Y
ISTO
ISTO
Y
Y
Y
ISTO
ISTO
ISTO
H H H H H H
ISTO
R
R
R
R
R
WA
WA
R
R
of of of of of
HoW01.Operation Mincemeat.indd 40 30/01/2014 16:30